Creator unknown. [The basis of the joke in this cartoon is the incongruity of an elderly person as an elementary school student and, even more, one kept inside at recess. Underneath the humor, though, is the disheartening fact that an entire segment of the American population—slaves—were prevented from acquiring even a rudimentary education. Both this cartoon and the previous illustration, "Uncle Tom and His Grandchild" point to the great yearning for formal knowledge that pervaded all age groups among the freed people, and to the hope they invested in education].